Joe graduated from Weber State University with two degrees in Information Systems and Technologies. He has carried mobile devices with him for more than a decade, including Apple's Newton, Microsoft's Handheld and Palm Sized PCs, and is Pocketnow's "Android Guy".
By day you'll find Joe coding web pages, tweaking for SEO, and leveraging social media to spread the word. By night you'll probably find him writing technology and "prepping" articles, as well as shooting video.
Read more about Joe Levi here.

Here in these United States, Google's latest Nexus smartphone - the Nexus 6 - isn't available for pre-order until October 29th, 2014. That date is approaching quickly, so those of us who are considering making that purchase need to make our decisions quickly. Mine wasn't easy to make. Here's why I almost didn't buy the Nexus 6. I've been a "Nexus guy" since before they were calling them by that name. I started out in Android with the T-Mobile G1. Shortly after the Nexus One was released I joined Pocketnow (has it been that long?!). I've owned every iteration of Nexus smartphone since ...

When it comes to cellular phones, removable batteries are nothing new, even the very earliest phones had a battery that you could remove and replace. Historically, this was more a necessity than a convenience. Until the last few years, battery technology suffered from various limitations that necessitated their ability to be removed and replaced fairly frequently. For their size, energy capacity wasn't all that great. Charge times were slow, and discharge rates were fast. Over the years, these batteries even developed a "memory" that reduced their capacity due to the buildup of tiny ...

With all the news about Android 5.0 Lollipop, Google's flagship tablet (the Nexus 9), and Apple's updated iPads, it might be easy for some to forget that those aren't the only tablets available these days. Google's recent "Be together. Not the same." ad campaign illustrates what I'm talking about. If you're in the States and want a Nexus 9 you can head over to the Play Store and pre-order one that will ship by November 3rd. If you're not in the States, if the Nexus 9 is too big, or if you're looking for something a little different, there are some other tablets that you might want to ...

Samsung makes some of the most popular smartphones available today. The Galaxy family has been (and continues to be) insanely popular. Like most major OEMs, Samsung does not use stock Android (AOSP Android) to power its devices. Instead, Samsung uses a highly customized version of the Android operating system, filled with lots of special features available only to Galaxy users. One of those features, however, is driving us nuts! Why does our Galaxy S5 keep updating its security policy? What does that even mean? Galaxy S5 Security Policy Every few days, Pocketnow's Michael Fisher is ...

Earlier this week, Google announced the next version of its mobile operating system: Android 5.0 Lollipop. The new software development kit (SDK) should be released sometime later today (October 17th), and ROMs for the Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Nexus 7, Nexus 10, and Google Play edition devices should start to roll out "in the coming weeks". What about Android Wear? Why weren't wearables powered by Android mentioned, and what will Android Lollipop do for smartwatches? Watch Face API Searching the Play Store for watch faces for Android Wear will bring up dozens of results. Some look great, others, ...

Yesterday Google introduced us to the HTC made Nexus 9, a 9-inch Android-powered tablet with an aspect ratio that's no longer for watching movies, and is more in line with productivity and getting work done. Today, Apple officially announced the iPad Air 2, and it became clear why Google went with a non-letterbox resolution screen. Screen Apple's new iPad Air 2 has a 9.7-inch display with a resolution of 2048×1536 and 264 pixels per inch. The Nexus 9's display is a little smaller at 8.9-inches but with the same resolution, Google's tablet bumps the clarity up to 276 ppi. While some may ...

There was no huge release party. We didn't even get a live-stream event. Instead, Google quietly announced the new Nexus devices and Android 5.0 Lollipop on its blog. Based on the hardware we're seeing, Google didn't need any hyped up fanfare, the devices speak for themselves. Let's take a look at the Nexus 6, and see how it just killed most of the competition. Nexus 6 Finally, after months of speculation, we know that Google's new smartphone is called the Nexus 6, not the Nexus X or anything else. We know that it's more of a phablet than a smartphone (some would even argue that it's a ...

Over the years WiFi has been an amazing technological advance! Being able to wirelessly connect our laptops and PDAs to traditional networks, whether at home, the office, or at school was significantly helpful not only for those using the networks, but also for those of us in IT departments who didn't have to pull as many new ethernet cables. As our phones became more capable, WiFi became more important - and just as well received - if not moreso! WiFi works by sending and receiving a microwave radio signal through the air to a Wireless Access Point. Radio waves are essentially ...

A little less than a month ago I wrote an article titled "Why I haven't bought the Moto 360 - yet" in which I detailed why I hadn't made the jump from my LG G Watch to the smartwatch from Motorola. I concluded that the round face was just too small a jump to justify replacing the G Watch with the Moto 360, especially given its shortcomings in battery life and performance. That was weeks ago. Then, just last week, Pocketnow Reader Christer Nilsen was watching my Kyocera Hydro Life unboxing video and noticed something interesting - yes, there I was with a silver Motorola Moto 360 on my ...

My wife kept waking up in the morning exhausted. Instead of being rested and rejuvenated she felt tired and groggy. Being the loving husband that I am, I immediately ran to technology for help! "Google, how can I sleep better using my Android?" The results were quite interesting. The first thing any true geek is going to do is look for ways to gather data. After all, how can you hope to fix a problem if you don't know the root cause? "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" apparently doesn't work in every situation. My first thought was to acquire a special piece of hardware like UP ...

By now we've heard the rumors, we've seen the mockups, and we've oogled over the guy who made a "Nexus 6" out of a block of wood just to show us its size. If all this holds true, the Nexus 6 (or whatever it will be called) is going to be big. Or is it? The Nexus 5 wasn't a small phone when it was released, but by today's standards, it's not overly large. We may be sitting on the edge of a screen size revolution and not even know it. Samsung's Note family and the new iPhone 6 Plus help illustrate this point - both are undebatably in the phablet size. One of the biggest complaints I'm ...

Cellular phones used to allow us to make and receive telephone calls on the go, and not much more. Somewhere along the line, text messaging was added, letting us ditch our pagers. Over time, simple apps were added, and we were able to pass away the time with games like Snake. Back then battery life wasn't all that important, not when compared to today since back then our phones could last a week between charges. Now, however, we're lucky to make it through a day or two. Manufactures are faced with a dilemma: customers want phones that are thin and light, but batteries are thick and heavy. ...

With headlines like "HTC revenues continue to slide in August financial figures", "HTC bleeds $100M in devastating third quarter", and "HTC expected to face yet another loss" one might think the company is teetering on the edge of disaster. Looking at the financial data for the last few years, nobody would have argued with you. HTC makes great products, but its financial situation hasn't reflected the durability and performance of its smartphones. This year, however, HTC looks like it's finally turning things around. Last Friday the company reported a quarterly profit - the second in a ...

You live an active life and your phone should be able to keep up! Many phones have to be hidden away and protected in the rain, at the pool or beach, or any other place they may get wet. While most phones will likely survive a quick splash, dropping your phone in the tub or sink, or trying to use it in the blowing rain will usually end in disaster. Some phones are starting to bring basic water resistance to their spec sheets, and are helping us to free up our lives and enjoy them like we were meant to do - after all, people are already water resistant. Such is goal of the Kyocera Hydro ...

Android L is the working title for Google's next version of the Android operating system. It was announced at the end of June, 2014, and entered a developer preview that has seen two releases thus far. All signs point to Android L being released within the next few months, but what does that mean for you? Android L Android L is full of new improvements and eye candy all over the place. It's beautiful, fluid, and has consistent animations and transitions that help convey how parts of an app are interrelated (not just for fluff). In no uncertain terms, as Michael Fisher puts it: "Android L ...

We're all getting just a little excited now that the traditional release of the next devices from Google is just around the corner. Center among them, we suspect, will be a new smartphone to replace the Nexus 5 from last year. We've heard plenty of rumors, some contradictory, but what do users want? Here is my Nexus 6 wish list. Battery Life All of us have been complaining about battery life for years. The bigger the screen and faster the processor, the more we are able to do with our devices. Combined, these can add up to miserable battery life, or the requirement to be next to a ...

The LG-built Nexus 5 is a wonderful phone. Before it landed, many complained that the screen would be too big, and the overall size of the device would be prohibitively large for a smartphone. In the year since its been around, however, the Nexus 5 has proven to be very usefully sized, without being too large to comfortably carry. Now that we're getting close to when we suspect the "Nexus 6" will launch, we're hearing rumors that it may be called the "Nexus X" and codenamed the Motorola Shamu. If what we've pieced together holds true, the Motorola Shamu will be Google's first Nexus ...

HTC has been making smartphones for a very long time. The company was often used by big-name OEMs as the manufacturing company that built their hardware. Compaq and HP (back when they were in the personal digital assistant business) both used HTC to build their devices, which were arguably some of the best pieces of consumer electronics of the day. But what about an HTC tablet? HTC Tablets HTC has made some very high-end smartphones recently. The One M8 lineup looks and feels great, thanks in part to its aluminum construction - which doesn't bend like Apple's latest aluminum smartphones. ...

There's a widespread push for a "kill switch" that would supposedly enable law enforcement to track and disable a stolen cell phone. There are even some States that are trying to mandate this functionality by law. I find all this curious since we've had the ability to remotely lock, disable, and even wipe our devices for the last few years. Why the big push to make it mandatory now? If I want to remotely wipe any of my Android powered devices, I can. Quickly, easily, securely. Apple has the same feature. So does Windows Phone. Put another way, we already have the ability to remotely ...

Every time a new smartphone or tablet comes out we ache to see more cores, faster frequencies, better graphics, more RAM, and increased storage space. All this comes at a cost: run time. For years we've been asking for improvements in battery life to better meet the needs of our always-on, media-intensive lifestyles. Why can't battery technology improve at the same pace as other electronics? If the science holds true, we might be poised to see such an advancement thanks to a special formulation of lithium and sulfur. Capacity The batteries in our smartwatches have around 300 mAh capacity ...

OnePlus was founded in almost a year ago by Pete Lau, who was previously the Vice President at OPPO. For those of you who don't know, OPPO didn't have the best reputation, so seeing another smartphone born from the "creative juices" of OPPO was a welcome sight. As time passed we started to see a much closer relationship between OPPO and OnePlus, most of which were brushed off with what seemed like a "nothing to see here, go about your business" attitude from the company - but we still had our doubts. Invitations are for parties! Nonetheless, OnePlus pushed forward. Time magazine even ...

When Android Wear was announced, I had a difficult decision to make: stick with Pebble or take a chance on a smartwatch that I'd only seen in pictures. I was one of the gazillions who backed the Pebble Kickstarter project, putting money down on a product that hadn't even been created yet, let alone made it to display-room floors. Jumping into the Android Wear ecosystem wasn't much different. When the first watches powered by Android Wear were announced, only the two with square faces were available. The "round one" by Motorola wasn't available - and wouldn't be for months. Honestly, ...

There was a time not so long ago when a person who told you that the government was reading your emails, tapping into virtually every phone call, had developed facial recognition software to identify individuals in a crowd, or track your movements anywhere you went would have been called a "nutcase" or "conspiracy theorist". Now, however, although we're reluctant to admit it, we know they were right all along. There are many ways through which our privacy can be violated, especially through our smartphones and tablets. One such way is your Internet browsing history. Though some may ...

Apple was on top of the smartphone market for quite some time, and Samsung wanted a piece of it. Between all the lawsuits and patent claims, Samsung has been running commercials trying to convince us that Samsung products are superior to Apple products. In addition to the normal commercials that one might expect, Samsung has also run commercials making fun of Apple, and everyone hated them. But not for the reasons you might expect. Back when Apple was set to release its new iPhone, Samsung ran commercials of people lined up, waiting to buy the latest creation from Apple. We'd overhear ...

One of the primary reasons sites like Pocketnow exist is to review and evaluate the vast array of smartphones on the market at any given time, compile our findings, and report our thoughts and observations back to you. We do the hard work and heavy lifting so you can make the most informed decision when you go to by a smartphone for yourself. If this were a static, unchanging list, the task would be fairly easy, but it's not. The smartphones available t0 buy at any given time can easily rise into the dozens for mainstream devices, and into the hundreds when looking at everything that's ...